Confessions of a Korean-American Man in New York City

Another night of skipping out on work events. Eventually someone is going to reign me in and say get my act together and go to the night functions as well. Instead I opted for volleyball where we barely beat our competitors 2-1. I've now become the official setter for our team that even the girls ask me to set for them. The only time I get to spike the ball is if it comes to me out of rotation -- btw, 2 successful kills last night. So there I was setting everyone up. We once again underestimated our opponents. While watching them in warmups, I said to a teammate that we had this in the bag. The 2 ladies on the other team had no mobility and the guys looked like basketball players that showed up to the wrong gym. Then the whistle blew and the game began. Almost every spike we threw down was dug by those two ladies. They were much more mobile then expected and they were the queens of digs. What the two ladies were great at was positioning on our spikes. We could barely find a single gap. Though the guys looked like basketball players, they were simply athtletes. Terrible technique but they were stronger throwing down the spike on us and everytime they did, all I heard was a loud roar from their side of the net. After multiple timeouts to get our act together, we stormed back to win 2-1. The moral of the story is to never underestimate anyone in volleyball, especially during warmups. We got beat by 4 smurfs last week and this week we barely won.

Afterwards I discovered the best fried chicken in the city at the Dirty Bird. I stumbled upon this place on 14th St on the way home and the fried chicken and dipping mild/hot sauce was outstanding. After eating quickly and showering up I headed uptown to meet Wes and his (pregs) wife visiting from Seattle. What was so fascinating about them was their fascination with New York. Apparently they have a cuz who lives on the Upper East Side who gave them the NY experience by housing them at a private club and taking them to the typical haunts like Nobu. It basically came down to this, there's rich and then there's New York. What's aggravating about NYC is that the scale is vastly different. If you live in Philly, Boston or DC, the rich folks are the docs and lawyers. In NYC, that's middle class. No matter how much you make in NYC, you want more and that's the inherent problem with money in NYC. There will always be someone with more money than you, greater fame and bigger (fake) boobs. I think satisfaction (or contentment) comes when you're happy independent of the funds. It's harder for New Yorkers because we're surronded by millionaires and the occassional billioinaire, celebrities who live on the same block and Page Six and that can certainly agitate you. Hummer once said to me, when you make a lot of money or come into a lot of money, you end up wanting a lot more and jealousy can override your senses and that ends up driving you. Very insightful by the Hummer.